


Outcasts and Swords

by noplainTigerLily



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabble Collection, Instinct, Jetko Week 2013, M/M, Stubborn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-12-04
Packaged: 2017-12-23 04:37:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/922078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noplainTigerLily/pseuds/noplainTigerLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My entries for Jetko week over on tumblr.<br/>Day One, Instinct: Jet and Zuko wake up in the middle of the night. Their thoughts turn to the other and their relationship.<br/>Day Two, Stubborn: Jet and Zuko are both stubborn teenagers. If Jet just holds on a little longer he will have Li.<br/>Day Three, Masks: Jet just wished Li would stop trying to hide his face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. For the Love in Hate

_Jet_

Jet glanced down at the boy lying behind him, the boy he still thought was a firebender. He let out a sigh and turned his head away. No matter what Smellerbee and Longshot said, Jet knew what he'd seen. And maybe that only proved the boy’s uncle was a firebender, but he’d seen the fire in his eyes.

The Freedom Fighter still didn't quite understand how they had ended up like this, how they had ended up sharing the same bed. Of course he could remember everything that had happened, of course he could understand what it had been. He just couldn't understand how he had let it happen. How he could have let a firebender of all people come this close to him.

As he let out another sigh the tanned boy heard the rustling of sheets behind him. He turned his head sideways again to see Li slowly rising. "Why're y'up?" The boy's voice was still heavily laced with sleep.

Jet turned fully, so that they were chest to chest. Even now, in the weak moonlight, he could still clearly see the fire captured in those golden eyes that were staring at him. The fire that made his gut clench in anger and distrust. However, he was finding that same fire less and less threatening every time he saw it.

For some reason the tanned boy's head moved forward. For some reason his lips pressed themselves against the ones of the other boy briefly before bringing his arm around pale shoulders and pulling them down so that they were both lying on the bed now.

The boys' eyes still held contact. The fire Jet could still see even gave him a weird sense of safety. Safety, because he knew that the boy who contained the fire wouldn't let it out and hurt him. Even despite how foolish Jet knew it was to trust a firebender to protect you from his own element or anything for that matter.

"Just get back to sleep," Jet told the other boy, mostly just to get him to close his eyes above anything else. Because if his eyes were closed Jet could pretend he was just another refugee in the lower ring, just someone else who'd been hurt by the Fire Nation, just like Jet instead of the one who'd been inflicting the pain.

The pale boy closed his eyes, and really, Jet knew it didn't actually change anything. But pretending was still easier for now, even though it would only be harder in the morning. Be harder to still believe in everything he had worked so hard for back in the forest.

Despite that Jet closed his own eyes as well. Closed his eyes because being with the other boy made him feel free above anything else. And freedom was what he had constantly been fighting for, right?

_Zuko_

When Zuko had fallen asleep there had been a body pressed against his. A body that belonged to an Earth Kingdom peasant boy instead of a Fire Nation noble girl. A body that wasn’t there anymore when the firebender woke up somewhere in the middle of the night. He slowly opened his eyes to see the shape of that same body sitting on the edge of the bed. “Why’re y’up?” Zuko asked as he slowly sat up.

The Earth Kingdom boy turned around so that they were chest to chest. Zuko could see a guarded look on the boy’s face as the moonlight was cast on it. He knew the other boy still suspected he was a firebender. Of course he was right, but Zuko couldn’t tell him that for his and Uncle’s safety. That suspicion had become less and less however, or maybe the possibility of ‘Li’ being a firebender had just become less important.

As Jet moved his head forward Zuko did the same. He closed his eyes slowly as their lips pressed together. The Prince knew that what he was doing was wrong. Wrong because, sooner or later the Earth Kingdom boy would find out who ‘Li’ really was, and then everything would backfire on not only him but his uncle as well. The thing was, Zuko just couldn’t seem to tear himself away from Jet despite what his gut was telling him. The kiss was only brief and after Jet had pulled away the boy draped his arm over Zuko’s shoulders to pull him down to the bed again.

Zuko looked into Jet’s brown eyes. There was something _off_ in there. Something the pale teen couldn’t exactly place, but knew he didn’t like. Something he knew that had to be related to the Fire Nation. It had never been directed at him however, had always stayed in the background.

“Just get back to sleep,” was told to Zuko by the Earth kingdom boy. Going to sleep meant closing his eyes. Closing his eyes meant not being able to see but just feel. It meant just being able to feel a warm body pressed against his without having to face the reality that he was in the Earth Kingdom instead of the Fire Nation, in a small apartment instead of a palace and with a boy instead of a girl.

Zuko closed his eyes, and really, he knew that it didn’t actually change anything. But pretending was still easier for now, even though it would only be harder in the morning. Be harder to still believe in being with en Earth Kingdom boy to be wrong.

Despite that Zuko kept his eyes closed. Kept his eyes closed because being with the other boy made him feel accepted above anything else. And being accepted was what he had constantly been trying to achieve, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About why Zuko thinks he should be with a Fire Nation noble girl? He was the Fire Nation Prince therefore he should be in a relationship with someone of at least noble standing. She would be Fire Nation considering the war and all that. Because he was a Prince he would have needed an heir and a boy won’t give him one.


	2. Stand Your Ground

Jet had been waiting for Li to come out of the teashop, like almost any other night. When the pale boy had walked out of the door Jet had walked towards him, grabbed him by his arms and pulled him into the alley besides the teashop where they were standing now.

Li quickly shook his arm out of Jet’s grip. His eyebrows – or eyebrow, since one of them had been burned off and was now covered with scar tissue –were pulled into a glare and his mouth formed a tight line. “What do you want?” The boy hissed.

Jet moved forward and to stand in front of the pale teenager. “I think you know what I want.” Jet had made it more than clear during the few weeks they had known each other.

“Then what is it?” The dark haired boy was playing ignorant. Jet knew that Li was fully informed on what Jet wanted from him.

The Freedom Fighter moved even closer. He brought his mouth to a pale ear and softly breathed out a whisper “ _You…_ ”. Li didn’t push Jet away as the latter’s mouth traveled across the formers jaw leaving kisses in its wake. The golden eyed teen actually didn’t give much of a reaction. _He was making progress_ , Jet thought as he reached Li’s mouth and the teen still hadn’t pulled away. “Just giving in would be so much easier, you know.” He mumbled against the shorter boy’s mouth before kissing it.

Li’s lips remained firmly in place during the kiss. When Jet pulled away he saw that the other teen was still glaring at him. “Just giving _up_ would be even easier, _you know_.” The remark only made Jet smirk. Li should know by know that there was no way Jet was giving up.

“Now what’s the fun in _that_?” Jet replied. Giving up wouldn’t result in any fun. Not that it was only about the fun part for Jet. He wanted everything from Li, everything that _was_ Li, including the parts that were hurting. The boy that had caught his attention and didn’t let him focus on much else all day long _wasn’t_ perfect, and that was one of the reasons why Jet wanted him. So the pale boy was stubborn and wouldn’t give into Jet? Jet was stubborn, too. He just needed to wait a little longer, the shorter boy was already starting to give in. Every day he was less and less frustrated with Jet, until it seemed to become more like an act than actual frustration.

Jet planted his mouth on Li’s neck and started to kiss it. When he lightly sucked on the pale skin he could hear a soft moan forming in the others throat. Strong hands gripped the taller boy’s shoulders. As Li let out a low growl Jet was pushed away. Hard. Jet didn’t have much time to register his back colliding with the wall behind him. Li was on him and was pressing his lips against Jet’s mouth in a dominating kiss.

The Freedom Fighter understood. The fair skinned boy hadn’t given in, but had merely sought another way. And he had found one.

Jet didn’t get Li. Li got Jet.


	3. Stop Hiding

The first thing Jet had noticed about Li was that he was a fighter. He had seen the swords the boy carried with him. He stood strong, unlike so many other refugees on the ferry. Li hadn't given up, he was still fighting. The second thing Jet had noticed about the pale teen had been the scar. It was hard to miss, impossible really. You had to be completely blind if you wanted to miss it, because even if you were sight impaired, which the eye surrounded by the scar tissue had to be, or standing very far away you would still be able to see it staring at you in an everlasting glare.

*

One of the things that didn’t take Jet long to notice but did say a lot about the pale boy was the way Li moved. He walked like a noble. His stride was full of pride and arrogance. It was so prominent that Jet was sure Li wasn’t from any ordinary family, but that he came from money that had held power.

At times it looked ridiculous, really. Mostly when he was working at the tea shop. Li walked around the place like he was an honorary guest in the Earth Kingdom’s palace, yet he was serving people whose social status couldn’t go any lower.

*

As Jet spent more time around Li the Freedom Fighter noticed that Li wouldn’t always look right at you. The pale boy didn’t do it to hide his scar, on the contrary, he’d turn the scarred side of his face _at_ you.

At first Jet thought it must be a reaction to people staring at the scar. Jet thought that when the pale boy had received the injury he had had to keep himself from flinching away when people stared at the wounded flesh, and that in doing so he unconsciously turned his scar to them to tell them that they could stare all they wanted. Only Jet realized that that wasn’t the case at all after some time.

Li used the scar as a mask.

Jet had always been good at reading people, but Li was just so easy to read. You could see almost anything he felt on his pale face. But only on the flawless side. His left eye was pulled in a permanent glare by rough scar tissue, making it unable to see what the golden eyed boy was feeling.

*

When Jet asked about the scar, Li put on the mask the disfigured flesh provided. They were on Li’s bed, the pale boy lying on it while Jet sat on his right. Li turned his head to bury the right side of it in the pillow underneath it. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” the Freedom Fighter said quietly. “Just… You should know that it wasn’t you fault.” He didn’t want the younger boy to blame himself for what the Fire Nation had done to him, something too many of his Freedom Fighters had done.

“What would you know?!” There was anger in Li’s voice, along with something Jet couldn’t place. If Li just wouldn’t hide his expression from him, he would know what the boy was feeling. “For all you I tripped and landed on the fire Uncle used to warm his tea!”

“If you did, you wouldn’t be acting like this.” Jet responded. “Aside from that, it doesn’t look like an accident.”

“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t my own fault. It was all for nothing anyway, I ruined everything.” There was less anger in the younger teen’s voice, resentment taking its place.

 Jet reached to Li’s face and laid his hand on a pale jaw line and damaged check. “Look at me, I want to see your face.”

Li turned his head, only to slightly turn the left side away this time. Jet felt something tighten in his chest, but ignored it to look at Li’s face instead. Sadness, anger, fear and doubt were spread in a mixture over his face. Jet turned Li’s head slightly with his hand so the boy’s face was looking straight at him, no longer trying to hide any part of it. “I want to see your whole face, including the scar.” the tanned boy said. “It’s a part of you. A part that I love just as much as the rest of you, and how you got it doesn’t change how I think about you. Do you understand?”

Li nodded lightly. “Yeah.” There wasn’t much conviction in his voice, but Jet would take what he could get.

“Good.” Jet said and he leaned down to place a kiss on Li’s lips. He would leave the subject alone for now and worry about it a different time.


End file.
